Flexible working solicitors

Flexible Working Rights

All employees have the right to request flexible working arrangements.  Employees may make up to two statutory requests in any 12-month period.

As an employer, you have two months from the date of the request to conclude the process (including any appeal) and the change, if agreed, becomes a permanent contractual change to their employee’s terms.

Types of Flexible Working Arrangements

Employees can request a change to their terms and conditions relating to hours of work, times of work and place of work.  Therefore, a statutory flexible working request could include a request for:

• Part-time working or job sharing
• Compressed hours
• Flexi-time
• Home working
• Term-time working
• Shift working
• Staggered or annualised hours

Procedure for Dealing with a Request

An employer is required to deal with the request in a ‘reasonable manner’.  A request can only be refused on one of eight permissible grounds and, if refused, a consultation meeting must first be held with the employee. The employer must notify the employee of its decision (including the decision on any appeal) within 2 months of the date on which the request was made (or within such longer period as the parties agree).

There’s no statutory definition of what it is to deal with a request in a ‘reasonable manner’ .  However ACAS has provided further guidance on this and suggests that:

• A meeting with the employee should be held as soon as possible (in a private place where possible and at a mutually agreeable time) after the request is received unless the employer intends to agree the request (however, even then it may be useful to clarify the request and the parties needs);
• The employer should allow the employee to be accompanied by a work colleague to the above meeting and any appeal meeting and inform the employee of this beforehand;
• The employer should ensure the employee fully understands the impact the change would have on their terms of employment (e.g. reduction in salary, bonus or pension entitlement);
• The employer should consider the request carefully, weighing the pros and cons for both parties
• The employer should inform the employee of its decision in writing as soon as possible;
• If the employee’s request is accepted, it should discuss with the employee how and when the changes might best be implemented;
• If the request is refused, the employer should allow the employee to appeal the decision.

It is possible to refuse a flexible working request.  However, this can only be done on one or more of the following grounds:

• The burden of additional costs
• Detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand
• Inability to re-organise work among existing staff
• Inability to recruit additional staff
• Detrimental impact on quality
• Detrimental impact on performance
• Insufficiency of work during the periods the employee proposes to work
• Planned structural changes

How Our Flexible Working Solicitors Can Help

Our lawyers can help you review your policies and approach to flexible working requests.  We can assist you in dealing with all aspects of the flexible working request process including complex issues that may arise such as dealing with multiple requests.

We can also help you navigate flexible working disputes and rejections where a mutually satisfactory compromise cannot be reached.  We can help you to protect your business interests and justify your decisions objectively in a non-discriminatory manner.

Where necessary we help the business to defend robustly potential claims in relation to flexible working, including discrimination claims.  Such claims need to be carefully handled because of their potential to adversely affect staff morale and the professional reputation of the business and senior management, as well as the risk of unlimited compensation awards.

Balancing Business Needs with Flexible Working Requests

Flexible and hybrid working arrangements are very much the norm nowadays and government plans will be to encourage greater workforce flexibility.  Being able to retain talented staff who wish to balance and integrate their working and family lives is important to any organisation, but flexibility has to work for the business too.  It is important therefore that businesses understand exactly how they can accommodate various working arrangements, use trial periods and audit arrangements properly so that any rejection of a request can be justified.

Contact

If you need advice or guidance on family friendly policies, flexible working requests or grievances please contact our team.